Everyday Life in the Russian Borderlands: the Motives and Determinants of Cross-border Practices

Abstract

Maria Zotova – PhD in Geography, Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: 29, Staromonetnyi Lane, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. E-mail: zotova@igras.ru

Anton Gritsenko – PhD in Geography, Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: 29, Staromonetnyi Lane, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. E-mail: antgritsenko@gmail.com

Aleksander Sebentsov – PhD in Geography, Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. Address: 29, Staromonetnyi Lane, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation. E-mail: asebentsov@gmail.com

Citation: Zotova M., Gritsenko A., Sebentsov A. (2018) Everyday Life in the Russian Borderlands: the Motives and Determinants of Cross-border Practices. Mir Rossii, vol. 27, no 4, pp. 56–77 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2018-27-4-56-77

This article focuses on the cross-border practices of communities, i.e. practices which constitute the core of everyday life in the Russian border regions. The study is based on surveys and interviews with experts conducted by the authors in 2000–2010 both in the border regions of Russia and neighboring countries. The article analyzes the opportunities and constraints of living in the border regions, and the motives and determinants of corresponding practices in everyday life. Local residents frequently cross the border
in search of specific services (e.g. shopping, entertainment, education, health services) or jobs. The authors show that the socio-economic and socio-cultural differences of neighboring states stimulate the emergence of cross-border practices and that these are differentiated according to the properties of the border areas (such as population density, the nature of local economies, connections to large cities and transport networks). The authors conclude that it is more often the case that cross-border interaction is constrained by the lack of corresponding stimuli than emergent obstacles. They also emphasize the
constructive role of cross-border practices in maintaining good neighborly relations even in situations of political difficulties.